Signaturefd LLC Has $133,000 Stock Position in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Signaturefd LLC increased its position in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 32.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 1,117 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 275 shares during the quarter. Signaturefd LLC’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $133,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,761,015 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,621,336,000 after purchasing an additional 273,645 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its position in Ares Management by 27.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,836,590 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $600,410,000 after purchasing an additional 1,255,866 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Ares Management by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,644,429 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $272,033,000 after buying an additional 78,781 shares during the period. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Ares Management by 91.2% in the 3rd quarter. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,464,266 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $150,629,000 after buying an additional 698,246 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Ares Management by 53.1% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,461,097 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $150,303,000 after buying an additional 506,935 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 50.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on ARES. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Ares Management from $119.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 9th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Ares Management from $156.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Ares Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $122.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, January 9th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Ares Management from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Ares Management from $157.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $126.17.

Insider Activity at Ares Management

In other news, Chairman Antony P. Ressler sold 143,569 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.51, for a total value of $18,880,759.19. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, Chairman Antony P. Ressler sold 143,569 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.51, for a total value of $18,880,759.19. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 4,488 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.01, for a total value of $601,436.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,375,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $184,263,750. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,494,440 shares of company stock worth $199,049,946. Company insiders own 41.89% of the company’s stock.

Ares Management Stock Performance

Shares of ARES opened at $134.93 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. Ares Management Co. has a one year low of $77.97 and a one year high of $139.48. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $133.07 and its 200 day moving average price is $121.07. The company has a market capitalization of $41.77 billion, a PE ratio of 56.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.17.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 8th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $1.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $862.71 million. Ares Management had a return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 13.06%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.21 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Ares Management Co. will post 4.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.93 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.76%. This is a positive change from Ares Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio is currently 155.65%.

Ares Management Company Profile

Ares Management Corporation operates as an alternative asset manager in the United States, Europe, and Asia. The company's Tradable Credit Group segment manages various types of investment funds, such as commingled and separately managed accounts for institutional investors, and publicly traded vehicles and sub-advised funds for retail investors in the tradable and non-investment grade corporate credit markets.